But only in the Roman version. In the original Greek version she was just a monster. That’s also the only way the other gorgons make sense (because they are explicitly Medusa’s sisters and have the same power set, except they are immortal on top).
Then a couple of centuries later comes the Roman author Ovid and adds a retelling of the story to his works. And just like Hollywood does today with their remakes he decides to add a tragic backstory to his new version.
And now a couple more centuries later a lot of people believe that’s the “real” version.
It’s a bit like the ‘Batman effect’. Is he the campy hero from the 60’s or the dark, gritty vigilante?
Both versions are valid parts of the character’s history, but the one that resonates most with the current culture usually becomes the ‘definitive’ one for that era. It seems like we’ve just reached a point where we’re more drawn to nuanced tragic backstories than the ‘monster of the week’ tropes of the past.
You don’t have to learn about it because the information is definitively trivial, in that it has no bearing on your life, despite your schooling probably giving you tests on it. However, it is useful to know because it’s still part of pop culture. The stories vary because 1. It was written a long time ago, 2. It’s been translated and intentionally mistranslated/altered/rewritten for social engineering reasons, and 3. It never happened. Let me throw out a disclaimer: this is not chatgpt, I just used Assassin’s Creed Odyssey as a springboard into actually seeing what the whole story was. As a never-evil player, I felt bad doing the monster hunts, especially for Medusa.
Medusa was either very sexy or very monstrous. Maybe she was sexy, then became monstrous at the time of her serpentine perm. The unclear appearance comes from trying to reconcile three parts of the story: Zeus raped her so she was probably sexy, Athena punished her for it with the snake hair/stone vision thing and might have wanted her to go unloved, and Perseus has to be heroic so killing a sleeping beauty would be evil. Zeus and Medusa’s offspring was born upon the beheading, as Pegasus (yes, the flying horse) burst from her corpse. So sometimes she’s a centaur, too.
So where does it fall in pop culture? Well, some people like to use “Medusa” as an insult to some types women being reclusive, being ugly, or being ruthless. But on the other hand, some groups of (primarily) women have taken her image as a powerful symbol to represent something from their past, a part of the myth that is present in all retellings: sexual assault. Greek myths love revolving around warriors slaying beasts, but you can argue she wasn’t a beast and was simply living in a distant place, wishing to be left alone. Perseus went after her anyway. There’s very real parallels here with SA, misogyny, violating consent, and other such unfair interactions.
But again, this is all based on mythology, not historical facts. The meaning has been changed a thousand times and will be changed until the end of humankind.
Anyway, on a related note, something I was totally unaware of until a few years ago, was that the Amazon women were a Greek myth. It had nothing to do with South America. The myth existed without knowledge of that rainforest because they’re totally unrelated. Amazon women were just a warrior group in the mythology. Apparently, when Europeans explored the area and found tall women, they figured it must be the Amazonians. That sounds like a bit of a normal total fuck up by the Europeans, on par with Columbus thinking he landed in India, maybe even with a cool respectful undertone ([X] doubt), but inr reality, the Amazons failed in nearly every tale. They were never meant to be a feminine icon. They failed because they were written to claim men had greater success in all feats.
Or at least that’s one interpretation. Or one interpretation of the latest set of rewrites.
Also within mythology different people completely change the story to fit their narratives. There are stories of Medusa where she’s just an ancient monster from before the Olympian age.
Also to add to your bit about the Amazons, it’s likely that they were just the mythologization of the people of the Eurasian steppes such as the Scythians. They had a lot less divisions in gender than the Greeks including female warriors and leaders. To the Greeks that’s the same as a society completely run by women who are “less of women” where men are subjugated (though be aware, I’m telling this story, and that right there was a parallel I threw in to compare the Greeks to modern anti feminists, just like how bits of mythology got tweaked as they entered new cultures and contexts). But yeah Tomyris of Scythia is said to have killed Cyrus the Great of Persia. And the Romans continued the Greek tradition of accusing any society where women could hold the same power as men of being a matriarchy totally comparable to their patriarchy, something we have no evidence of ever being a thing historically.
I wasn’t aware of that equality=matriarchy perception. I haven’t dove into the actual human ancient Greeks much, so thanks for that added info for me to seek out at some point. I had some inkling after finding out about the mythological Amazons
Yeah I have a friend who’s really into the bronze age, and I just think it’s fascinating how the stories we tell and the ways we reinterpret stories says so much about us. Fiction is a tool to share our values and ideas in a palatable and entertaining way, even if we don’t mean to do so.
…sexually assulted?
Yeah, that’s the story. Medusa was sexually assaulted by Poseidon in the temple of Athena.
But only in the Roman version. In the original Greek version she was just a monster. That’s also the only way the other gorgons make sense (because they are explicitly Medusa’s sisters and have the same power set, except they are immortal on top).
Then a couple of centuries later comes the Roman author Ovid and adds a retelling of the story to his works. And just like Hollywood does today with their remakes he decides to add a tragic backstory to his new version.
And now a couple more centuries later a lot of people believe that’s the “real” version.
It’s a bit like the ‘Batman effect’. Is he the campy hero from the 60’s or the dark, gritty vigilante?
Both versions are valid parts of the character’s history, but the one that resonates most with the current culture usually becomes the ‘definitive’ one for that era. It seems like we’ve just reached a point where we’re more drawn to nuanced tragic backstories than the ‘monster of the week’ tropes of the past.
So Poseidon assaulted her in the Temple of Athena?
Dam i should actually learn more about that stuff, i never knew that
You don’t have to learn about it because the information is definitively trivial, in that it has no bearing on your life, despite your schooling probably giving you tests on it. However, it is useful to know because it’s still part of pop culture. The stories vary because 1. It was written a long time ago, 2. It’s been translated and intentionally mistranslated/altered/rewritten for social engineering reasons, and 3. It never happened. Let me throw out a disclaimer: this is not chatgpt, I just used Assassin’s Creed Odyssey as a springboard into actually seeing what the whole story was. As a never-evil player, I felt bad doing the monster hunts, especially for Medusa.
Medusa was either very sexy or very monstrous. Maybe she was sexy, then became monstrous at the time of her serpentine perm. The unclear appearance comes from trying to reconcile three parts of the story: Zeus raped her so she was probably sexy, Athena punished her for it with the snake hair/stone vision thing and might have wanted her to go unloved, and Perseus has to be heroic so killing a sleeping beauty would be evil. Zeus and Medusa’s offspring was born upon the beheading, as Pegasus (yes, the flying horse) burst from her corpse. So sometimes she’s a centaur, too.
So where does it fall in pop culture? Well, some people like to use “Medusa” as an insult to some types women being reclusive, being ugly, or being ruthless. But on the other hand, some groups of (primarily) women have taken her image as a powerful symbol to represent something from their past, a part of the myth that is present in all retellings: sexual assault. Greek myths love revolving around warriors slaying beasts, but you can argue she wasn’t a beast and was simply living in a distant place, wishing to be left alone. Perseus went after her anyway. There’s very real parallels here with SA, misogyny, violating consent, and other such unfair interactions.
But again, this is all based on mythology, not historical facts. The meaning has been changed a thousand times and will be changed until the end of humankind.
Anyway, on a related note, something I was totally unaware of until a few years ago, was that the Amazon women were a Greek myth. It had nothing to do with South America. The myth existed without knowledge of that rainforest because they’re totally unrelated. Amazon women were just a warrior group in the mythology. Apparently, when Europeans explored the area and found tall women, they figured it must be the Amazonians. That sounds like a bit of a normal total fuck up by the Europeans, on par with Columbus thinking he landed in India, maybe even with a cool respectful undertone ([X] doubt), but inr reality, the Amazons failed in nearly every tale. They were never meant to be a feminine icon. They failed because they were written to claim men had greater success in all feats.
Or at least that’s one interpretation. Or one interpretation of the latest set of rewrites.
Also within mythology different people completely change the story to fit their narratives. There are stories of Medusa where she’s just an ancient monster from before the Olympian age.
Also to add to your bit about the Amazons, it’s likely that they were just the mythologization of the people of the Eurasian steppes such as the Scythians. They had a lot less divisions in gender than the Greeks including female warriors and leaders. To the Greeks that’s the same as a society completely run by women who are “less of women” where men are subjugated (though be aware, I’m telling this story, and that right there was a parallel I threw in to compare the Greeks to modern anti feminists, just like how bits of mythology got tweaked as they entered new cultures and contexts). But yeah Tomyris of Scythia is said to have killed Cyrus the Great of Persia. And the Romans continued the Greek tradition of accusing any society where women could hold the same power as men of being a matriarchy totally comparable to their patriarchy, something we have no evidence of ever being a thing historically.
I wasn’t aware of that equality=matriarchy perception. I haven’t dove into the actual human ancient Greeks much, so thanks for that added info for me to seek out at some point. I had some inkling after finding out about the mythological Amazons
Yeah I have a friend who’s really into the bronze age, and I just think it’s fascinating how the stories we tell and the ways we reinterpret stories says so much about us. Fiction is a tool to share our values and ideas in a palatable and entertaining way, even if we don’t mean to do so.
TBF I wasn’t sure until I saw your comment and looked it up myself, I’m a total fraud!
Haha hey i still learnt something
Saudia Arabiad.